Blog – Rene Arreola Art – Fantasy Arthttps://www.renearreola.com
The Realm Ethereal by Rene ArreolaMon, 19 Mar 2018 05:29:51 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.4The Princess and the Barbarianhttps://www.renearreola.com/the-princess-and-the-barbarian/the-princess-and-the-barbarian/
https://www.renearreola.com/the-princess-and-the-barbarian/the-princess-and-the-barbarian/#respondTue, 23 Jan 2018 08:35:25 +0000http://www.renearreola.com/?p=312“The Princess and The Barbarian” are story pages originally drawn in 2000. Time flies by when I’m having fun drawing. If you look at the artwork closely you’ll notice this is not inked. The original art boards were drawn in tight pencils. I don’t recall why I did that back then. I think it may have been to show how tightly I could pencil back in the day. The pages are also remarkably clean, meaning very little smudges.

Back when I drew these pages, I wasn’t doing any kind of coloring digitally or even scanning my artwork. In fact, after drawing my pages, the next thing to do was to get clean, black and white photo copies made to submit them to Marvel, DC , et al.

While the pencil artwork is 18 years old, the story, lettering and coloring was done in 2017. An experiment in writing a short story (and using some old sample pages) and digitally coloring pencilled artwork. In 2018, I am doing a lot more coloring digitally and I really like the look and feel of these pages. Who knows, maybe some upcoming stories will be drawn in similar fashion?

]]>https://www.renearreola.com/the-princess-and-the-barbarian/the-princess-and-the-barbarian/feed/0Inking the Girl with the Head Dresshttps://www.renearreola.com/rene-arreola-art/inking-the-girl-with-the-head-dress/
https://www.renearreola.com/rene-arreola-art/inking-the-girl-with-the-head-dress/#respondMon, 25 Dec 2017 19:00:59 +0000http://www.renearreola.com/?p=242﻿﻿﻿

In creating characters for my ever-expanding universe of personal creations, I like to do more than just rough sketches. I often work to create character studies as fully inked drawings. This is because I enjoy the inking part of the drawing process. To that end, I’ve recently started working in a small watercolor, spiral-bound pad. It measure 6″ x 9″, making it small enough that I don’t get carried away working on a piece too large to finish.

The video here shows me working start to finish, non-stop, on the drawing. I’ve sped it up as per usual, but I did not make it too fast so the artwork can be seen a little more. And I learned not to shift or rotate the drawing while filming as that can cause a jarring effect, especially with the video being sped up.

In case you were wondering what brushes and pens I’m using for this drawing, below are descriptions and images:

Pentel Pigment Ink Brush Pen – Extra Fineis the main work horse brush pen I use in this drawing. I like it as my all-around, go to brush because it can lay down both a fine line and, when needed, a ton of ink. It’s perfect for this style of drawing. I also use this brush for my comic book pages too.

The other pens I like using are from Faber-Castell, their PITT artist pens. The pen I use most from this series is the Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens black superfine 199. I like using these pens for drawing straight lines. They come in handy when using them with straight edges or circle templates. These come in a variety of pen sizes, much more than shown here.

Another brush I like to use from time to time is the Pentel Arts Pocket Brush Pen. It has a finer point than the brush pen above, but it’s tip is also not as stiff. For working on the rougher watercolor paper, it can be hard to get down a consistent flow. But when used just right, I can really add some tiny details in certain areas. However, it does work really great on smoother paper, which is what I draw my comic book pages on.

The other art tool I used that is not a pen or brush is the C-Thru Small & Large Circles Template. Invaluable for drawing perfect circles. I do have a compass, but at times these templates will more often than not provide just the right size circle. These templates also come in a variety of sizes and I myself have several with different sizes, including ellipses.

Occasionally I like working in small, spiral bound watercolor pads. It offers me a nice change of pace from inking or digital art. For me, this is color sketching and it’s a lot of fun. Up until fairly recently, I’ve been creating paintings using acrylics. Making the switch to digital painting in early 2018 has been great, but I still like to paint using paper, brushes and paints from time to time. Mostly to give myself a break.

It’s during these breaks when I feel like I can really cut loose, working almost haphazardly. This is a real benefit to my work because it frees me up. I get to not be so concerned with perfection but instead with completion of a watercolor sketch.

With these watercolor sketches, I can work a lot looser and draw while adding some quick watercolors to the drawings. And it also satisfies my need to paint traditionally with brush on paper. For painting, my preferred brush is Winsor & Newton Sceptre Gold II. It has a nice point and will hold enough water and pigment in the brush hairs to lay down decent watercolor coverage. For being a sable synthetic brush, it gets the job done.

Winsor & Newton Sceptre Gold II brush.

For my paper, I’m painting on Strathmore Watercolor Windpower, 6″ x 9″, 140 lb. paper. It is heavily textured, which causes my inks to look somewhat rough. But I actually like that look for my sketches in this instance. The paper being fairly heavy, it will still bend and warp to a certain extent once watercolor painting on it. But the paper being fairly heavy, it will take quite a beating. It’s not an issue though as I completed the King Baldor painting in about a half hour.

The watercolor paints I’m using are Daler Rowney Watercolour Aquafine Travel Tin, nothing fancy but they work great for these drawings for adding color quickly. Since I’m limited in space where I’m working at my drawing board, the smaller compact size is a bonus. Otherwise, the paints themselves aren’t bad at all. It does come with a brush (not pictured here) that is about 4″ inches long. I don’t use it at home since I’m using the above Winsor & Newton brush which carries more water and therefore creates a better overall flow from brush to paper. But the included brush would be suitable for real painting on the go.

To wrap this up, while I love working digitally when it comes to painting, nothing will ever replace the desire to create using traditional media, even if it’s to satisfy my own artistic cravings.

Check out this time lapse video of myself inking a comic book page. In traditional comic book art, the final inks have always been my personal favorite to view. In today’s digital art world, artists are using a variety of programs and apps to create stunning work. In the comic book genre, I think there is still a fair amount of traditional inking that takes place and I love that. Even though I have switched to painting digitally myself, I still work on my own personal comic book pages using brushes, markers and pens. There is something about using traditional materials to create art. I think it’s because that’s what I grew up with. All of my early explorations and self-discoveries made in my art journey were using pens, brushes, colored pencils paper, etc. It’s an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything.